Everyone feels a little overwhelmed packing for a lot of people and then keeping them entertained in the car. Believe me, I do too. I don’t trust my kids to do all of the packing by themselves. I have to therefore pack for 9 people and find room for all of their stuff in the car. I’ve compiled a list of some great tips to help you get all your stuff from here to there and make your road trip more manageable.

1. Duffel Bags
A few years ago we decided that all the kids needed their own bag, but a big suitcase just wouldn’t fit in the car. Duffel bags are easy for the kids to haul around and stuff things into. It also fits under seats or stacks well in any trunk space.

The problem we ran into was that they all looked the same and we needed an easy way to identify them. All the personalized bags can get pricey. So we had some tags made and hot glued and tacked the tags onto the bags. It was a great job for one of the kids to do for a Christmas present for the whole family.

2. Buy Water Bottles
The kids are always thirsty and it is hard to keep sippies clean on a car trip. We always keep mini water bottles in the car. They are the perfect size for little people and easy to dispose of in the car.

3. Ziplock Bags

The best way to pass around snacks in the car are ziplock bags.  It can be pretty expensive and messy passing out treats in the car. Ziplocks are easy to pack, pass out, and throw away. You can do a healthier snack like cereal, pretzels, or grapes too! Ziplocks also come in handy if you have a messy diaper or potty accident. No one wants to put soiled clothes straight into the diaper bag.

4. Wipes

All messes can easily be taken care of with baby wipes. I love them for sticky hands and faces as well as quickly washing hands after a trip to the makeshift bathrooms along the road without a good place to wash hands.

5. Grocery Sack

I like to carry a grocery sack in the car for the trash. It really helps with cleaning out the car after the trip to have been collecting trash all along the way.

6. Ice Cream Bucket and Lid

This has saved our bacon on more than one occasion for car sick kiddos. My kids don’t usually get sick on the road, but it is inevitable that at some point in your travels your kid will need to puke in the middle of nowhere. The lid really helps with the smell and mess until you can pull over to wash it out.

7. Pack N Play

If you don’t own one already for your baby, it really comes in handy in those hotel rooms that don’t offer a crib. You will use it a lot. It’s nice for naps too!

8. Sit N Stand Stroller

If you have more than one small child, I highly recommend a sit and stand stroller. We have packed at least four kids on that thing at Disneyland and it fits lots of stuff in the undercarriage. It folds fairly small compared to other double strollers out there. It is also nice for kids that are a bit older that have tired feet for just a few minutes. Otherwise you end up carrying a five year old, which is no fun at all. The sit n stand also has a nice tray on the front for that baby that needs a high chair to eat, but who wants to carry that around!

9. Amazon and Netflix allow you to download movies on your device so you don’t need an internet connection to watch movies. It saves a lot of space to not have to bring dvds. We also have a dvd player in the car that has a usb connection; so, we bought this nifty connector for our iphone to show our downloaded movies on the car dvd player. It works like a charm! (PS…I highly recommend Amazon to buy digital movies. We have had great luck with it!)

Happy travels everyone! Let me know if we see you on the road!